Pontypridd 35-19 Cardiff Met – Match Report
Pontypridd made it back-to-back wins at Sardis Road in the space of eight days with a 35-19 bonus point win against Cardiff Met.
A late interception try from George Thorrington capped off a good afternoon’s work for Kristian Parker’s side, with scores from Rob Jones, Ioan Evans, Louis Rochefort-Shugar and Garyn Daniel sealing the win.
Ponty opened the scoring after five minutes with the use of their rolling maul when hooker Rob Jones was at the back of the pack to score. Jaydan Pugh added the conversion for an early lead.
The hosts continued to show their dominance in the set-piece with a powerful scrum on halfway and a neat offload from number 8 Joe Miles put blindside flanker Lloyd Riley into space, with his grubber kick bouncing short of the Cardiff Met tryline.
With some scramble defence ensuring the visitors regathered the ball through wing Dylan Scott, scrum half Joel Raikes put his hand to jackaling and won the turnover.
Pugh kicked the resulting penalty into the corner and Ponty used the rolling maul for a second time, this time with the backs joining in, and centre Ioan Evans was able to cross the tryline from short range.
Met enjoyed a spell of possession after quarter of an hour with wing Scott showing his pace out wide to beat a defender, but after multiple phases inside the Ponty 22 a knock on from outside centre Jacob Willmott ended the attack.
A third try followed for the hosts after 20 minutes, with a clearing box kick from the away side resulting in wing Scott taking out Jude Williams off the ball and playing under a penalty advantage, the hosts exploited an overlap out wide, with wing Louis Rochefort-Shugar beating two defenders to score in the corner. Pugh kicked his third conversion to give Ponty a 21-0 lead.
Eventually, centre Willmott was on the receiving end of Met’s first try of the afternoon after an initial break from fullback Tiaan Evans from inside the Ponty half, with fly-half Ross McKay adding the conversion.
Despite Joe Miles crossing the tryline moments before halftime, referee Carwyn Sion disallowed the score as the number 8 picked up the ball illegally from the back of a breakdown as he had his foot in front of the ball when picked up.
In the half’s final play, Met had a spell of possession which was ended after a forward pass from outside half McKay to his wing Scott, with both sides heading down into the tunnel with Ponty leading 21-7 at the interval.
HALF TIME – Pontypridd 21-7 Cardiff Met
Trailing by 14 points, Met started the second half very well with a neat first phase move off the lineout with blindside flanker Josh Hart breaking through a gap in the Ponty defence and scrum half Louis Perreira was on hand in support to score. McKay’s conversion was successful and narrowed the scores to seven points.
The hosts’ accuracy was starting to faulter at the beginning of the half with a couple of promising positions in attack being ended by knock-ons, which gave the visitors more belief.
An excellent 50/20 from scrum half Perreira gave the away side an opportunity to find a third try which could have levelled the scores, but the resulting lineout was pinched by the hosts.
With the game heading into the final quarter, Ponty wrapped up the bonus point on the hour mark. After some sustained pressure inside the Met 22, replacement prop Garyn Daniel burrowed over from close range, with fly-half Pugh continuing his 100% record for the day off the tee with the conversion – 28-14.
Replacement scrum half Max Ferguson broke down the touchline and looked to have beaten the defence, albeit for a brilliant last-ditch tackle in the corner, the scrum-half’s attempted offload went forward and allowed Ponty to clear their lines.
There was still time for an interception try in the final few minutes, replacement George Thorrington read a Met attack perfectly to intercept from inside his own half and ran over 60 meters to score unopposed, with Pugh adding the conversion.
From the restart, a dropped ball from the hosts fell to wing Scott who ran in himself to score in the corner, but the conversion from replacement Tom Howlett struck the post.
Despite the late score, Pontypridd held on to claim a vital bonus point win to remain top of the Welsh Premiership table.
Ponty will switch their focus to the Welsh Cup after a weekend off next week when they will head to the Gnoll in semi-final action to face Newbridge on Saturday March 1st.
FULL TIME – Pontypridd 35-19 Cardiff Met (15/2/2025)
Match report – Iestyn Thomas
PONTYPRIDD –
15. Dale Stuckey (cc). 14. Louis Rochefort-Shugar (Jacob Symes). 13. Stuart Floyd-Ellis. 12. Ioan Evans. 11. Jude Williams (George Thorrington). 10. Jaydan Pugh. 9. Joel Raikes (cc) (Lucus Welch).
1. Ben Drew (Kian Mattravers). 2. Rob Jones (Dylan Kelly). 3. Morgan Bosanko (Garyn Daniel). 4. Mitch Barnard. 5. Ieuan Davies. 6. Lloyd Riley (Cai Herdman). 7. Kristian Parker. 8. Joe Miles.
Subs: 16. Dylan Kelly. 17. Kian Mattravers. 18. Garyn Daniel. 19. Jeff Young. 20. Cai Herdman. 21. Lucus Welch. 22. Jacob Symes. 23. George Thorrington.
Tries: Rob Jones, Ioan Evans, Louis Rochefort-Shugar, Garyn Daniel, George Thorrington
Conversions: Jaydan Pugh x 5
CARDIFF MET –
15. Tiaan Evans. 14. Dylan Scott. 13. Jacob Willmott. 12. Toby Clinch. 11. Tom Weekley. 10. Ross McKay. 9. Louis Perreira.
1. JJ Wosniak. 2. Aneurin Jenkins. 3. Liam Newstead. 4. Sam Bryan. 5. Ollie Agar. 6. Josh Hart. 7. Lachie McGowan. 8. Ollie Wiseman.
Subs: 16. Dom Manaseitava. 17. Will Pearce. 18. Rhodri Jones. 19. Nick Murphy. 20. Cerith Davies. 21. Max Ferguson. 22. Tom Howlett. 23. Ben Parsons.
Tries: Jacob Willmott, Louis Perreira, Dylan Scott
Conversions: Ross McKay x 2
Referee: Carwyn Sion
Assistant Referee/Third Official: Chris Lewis
Golden Bob Man of the Match: Lloyd Riley
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